In The Aftermath
by Jess-the-psycho-cat
Summary: Post key. Rochelle is dead, Ethan's taking it badly. Then she comes back to life... but that's impossible isn't it?FINISHED! Abracadabra!
1. Chapter 1

Everything belongs to Marianne Curley, not to me etc., and the quote from the end of the Key in Italics belongs to her even more. 

This is set post-key, in Ethan's POV but it starts in Matt's following the last chapter. I'm not sure where this story's going to go, but bear with be and please please please R&R!

Matt

The arrow in Ethan's hand slips from his fingers to the ground. 'No. Even revenge is too great an honour for you.'

_As night falls and brings an end to this long day of darkness, Marduke inhales his last staggered breath and his body turns to stone._

Ethan straightens up then falls to the floor and sobs, heart-rending sobs of pain. Arkarian and I look at each other for a moment, neither of us speaking or thinking openly. I feel awkward, like I don't quite know what to do. I have been a leader all day, but war is so different to helping a friend in distress. Arkarian takes over and kneels by him to talk to and comfort him; but as we watch Ethan he uses his wings and disappears. 

This can't be good. Ethan has been powerful and long-successful Guard, but he has suffered so much. We can't leave him on his own: the pain could be too much for him. I leave these thoughts open to Arkarian, and he looks up, violet eyes full of concern. We have to find him.

Ethan

This is just too much to handle. My heart has been ripped out, roasted on a spit, stabbed with needles then returned to me on a plate. There's nothing left to drive me: Marduke is dead now and there's no other way I can avenge Rochelle's death. I couldn't even do that right when I had the chance to. Oh Rochelle –

"Ethan. Listen to me"

The heartache is so real, it hurts so deep inside my chest. I'm dimly aware of Arkarian's voice telling me how Marduke was gone, and how everything is going to be OK.

A rage explodes inside me. I want to get away from him and Matt so much. Using reserves of power I didn't know I had, I use my wings and disappear, heading to somewhere they won't look for me.

I rematerialise in the darkened back buildings of my school. The air is still and calm in the night. The school is empty, no one is here.

I am left alone with my thoughts: it's all over now. I collapse against a wall: I can sit and let the grief wash over me. A voice calls to me.

'Ethan.'

A soft, female voice. I bring my head up from my knees, and through my tear-blurred eyes I can see her golden skin glowing; her black hair shining; her brilliant green eyes, the ones that captured me from the first time I saw them, more than two years ago.

I smile and stand to greet her, grief forgotten.

'Ethan.' Rochelle repeats, and a small smile turns up the corners of her perfect mouth.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 

A/N I've decided to go back to Matt's POV. I didn't like having two different POVs in the first chapter, but I had to to get the story going properly. Enjoy and R&R!

**Matt**

We rejoin the others on the other side of the forest, using our wings to save time, despite the fact that we are so tired. It is dark now, and Dillon, Jimmy and all the tribunal members have gone, taking the dead with them. Isabel, Shaun and Neriah have stayedand set up a fire.

Isabel runs to me and hugs me, then kisses Arkarian. 'We were getting worried! What happened to Marduke?'

'The curse that Lorian placed on whoever killed Rochelle got him. Ethan spared him. He said that revenge was too good for Marduke, and he died.'

Shaun and Neriah catch up, and Shaun notices that Ethan isn't with us. 'Where is he, Matt? Is he OK?'

Arkarian speaks up. 'We don't know where he is. He used his wings and disappeared. He can't be far, in his tired state. I think we have to find him ' A weary look crosses Arkarian's face but I know that he won't give up on Ethan.

The problem is, we're all worn out too. I close my eyes for a second, checking to see if I can sense his thoughts.

'Well, he's not here,' I start, taking charge again. 'Our best bet is to see if we can detect his thoughts. That's Arkarian Neriah and me. Shaun and Isabel, can you look for him the old fashioned way? Go home, see if he's there.'

They all nod in agreement, and start packing up their things and putting out the fire. This day has been long, but it's not over yet. Ethan has had to deal with so much grief and pain in his life. I hope that this won't push him over the edge. I try to shake off my doubts, but my stomach still churns. If we find him soon, he won't be able to do anything stupid.

I check everyone is OK with the plan. I dematerialise, and reappear in a deserted back alley in Angel Falls. I take a deep breath, then start scanning for thoughts.

It's hard being a Truthseer; not so bad when I'm with fellow members of the Guard who have been properly trained to keep their thoughts quiet, but the ordinary people in the world think so badly of each other… well, it takes some getting used to.

I detect the familiar pattern of Ethan's thoughts. He can't screen them properly when he's upset or excited, but now he's not making even a small effort.

It's so strange. I wonder where Arkarian is: I could do with him to reassure me that this really is Ethan. Such strange, strange thoughts. Why is he thinking _Oh Rochelle, oh Rochelle…_ and so happily?

I'm scared now and I run around strangely, not really sure where I'm going. I'm aimless. I'm terrified for Ethan; he's finally lost it. He thinks she's still alive.

Within a few minutes, I track him down to the school, which is still mostly cordoned off following the attack of the rats. It's almost 9.30 at night and no one is here. Except Ethan. I hear his voice with my ears now, and another voice. A girl's.

I follow it to the back buildings, and the sight that greets me makes my blood run colder than any ice. It is Rochelle, sitting plain as you like against a wall and talking to Ethan.

She sees me and points me out to Ethan, who runs up to me and hugs me.

'Matt, Isabel healed her! I knew she could do it.' There's so much joy in his eyes.

'Ethan, Rochelle died,' I start. I hope I'm doing the right thing, I don't want him to disappear again. 'You've made an illusion. She won't hold up to touch, and she won't last much longer. Don't do this to yourself, Ethan. End it.'

The Rochelle illusion is listening. She comes up to me and says 'Believe this.' She kisses Ethan passionately and he kisses her back, twining his hands into her short black hair. She keeps her hands out of the way, and small sparks run over the skin and sometimes fly off as her power surges.


	3. Chapter 3

This bit was going to be in Ethan's point of view, but then it would have been too short for my liking so, much as it truly pains me, I switch to Matt in the middle of a scene. R&R!

**Ethan**

I want him to be shocked. That'll teach him to be so faithless! Though why he thinks she's an illusion when she's clearly flesh and blood is beyond me.

Rochelle explained how come she's here. She was dead, but Isabel managed to bring her back with a mixture of CPR and her skills, and by starting Rochelle's heart up again manually she saved her afterwards.

I thought that I was going to lose her. I thought that the prophecy had doomed me, but now I know that prophecies aren't everything. It was proved inaccurate before – Dillon isn't even mentioned, but he has proved to be one of our strongest fighters.

After an eternity I tear myself away from Rochelle and face Matt once again. He might be an immortal now, but he is still shocked like any normal person. His face is pallid and near colourless; no blood remains.

'See Matt? Not everything has to end in tragedy for us! Though you probably wouldn't have cared if she had died' I sneer at him.

'Ethan, you know that's not true. All I'm saying is that Rochelle died. Isabel is a healer; she does not resurrect the dead. Now I think that you should go home.' He hesitates before talking to Rochelle. He still doesn't believe she's really there. 'You go home too. Talk to your parents.'

'My mother,' she corrects. 'Well, my stepmother.'

**Matt**

I remember: her father is serving eight years in prison for attempted murder of her stepmother, who now looks after her. I realise that I am already thinking of her as if she had never died.

'Fine. See you.'

'Bye Ethan. Bye Rochelle.'

She smiles as she walks by, the same smile she always had. It has to be her.

Drawing on reserves of energy I didn't know I had, I return to the mountains. Isabel and Shaun are making their way down on foot, and Arkarian and Neriah are searching for Ethan still.

'Did you find him?' Shaun asks with more than a hint of desperation, gripping me about the shoulders as he speaks.

'Yes, and –' I steel myself before speaking. 'I found Rochelle.'

They both stare at me, clueless, Isabel who supposedly healed Rochelle included.

'What? Has he done something sick, like join her corpse or something?' Isabel asks, quite shrewdly in my opinion.

'No. She's, well, she's alive.'

More clueless stares are focused on me.

We've stopped by the edge of the trees, close to Angel Falls, where the glow from the buildings and streetlights just about illuminates the surrounding ground.

'Explain.' Isabel demands.

'OK. I sensed Ethan, and I was surprised by how happy his thoughts were. Then I found him, and Rochelle was sitting with him behind the school. They were talking. I thought she was an illusion, but then they-' I pause for some reason. 'They kissed for ages, and she was really there. Her hands were still powerful, I don't know what happened to her gloves, and I felt her brush past me. She's not an illusion.'

We start walking again, all of us as silent as the grave.

'Ethan said that Rochelle told him that you healed her, brought her back from the dead,' I address Isabel. 'I sent them home after that. I didn't know what else to do.'

The cold silence resumes.

'Matt, Shaun,' Isabel starts cautiously, sounding unsure. 'Do you remember when Ethan was injured by the dynamite, and you waited for us in a room with a wooden table and chairs?' We nod in answer. She continues 'And Rochelle burnt one of the chairs with her hands. Then when Ethan was fully healed, we joined you and he repaired the chair. That chair was real. He reconstructed it.'

Shaun knows where she is going but is confused and queries 'But his powers only work on inanimate objects.'

'That's what I thought too.' Replies Isabel. 'It's just a suggestion though.'

'And one that is very close to the truth, in my opinion.' It's all clear to me now. 'Ethan believes she's real, and is it possible that his grief and the heightening of our powers by Lorian he has advanced and has actually brought an illusion of Rochelle… into reality?'

'Dear God. We have to tell Arkarian.'

'Already here.' Arkarian steps from the shadows to in front of us. 'This is really serious, Matt. We all know that in desperation or in great anger we somehow have more power, or are more able to draw upon it. I don't know exactly. Ethan almost lost his sanity before, when his sister died, and it's quite possible that his subconcious has recreated her to save him from killing himself.

He is so serious. We all know he's right.


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N I don't own the Guardians of Time trilogy. I do own this bizarre plot I've got going though._

_More point of view switching I'm afraid! And a lot of dialogue in the first half. Please review and tell me if it's working well enough, this is two short chapters welded into one. Anyway, on with the drama!_

Ethan 

I wonder the streets for hours and hours in a daze, a dazed sort of happiness, any tiredness forgotten. It feels like the events that happened today (well, yesterday now, it's so late) occurred weeks ago instead of days.

I take the long way home, returning so late that dad is home and has fallen asleep at the kitchen table waiting for me. The sound of me opening the fridge hunting for food wakes him.

"Hey dad!"

"Ethan!" he cries shaking the sleepiness away immediately. "Are you OK?"

"Shush, you'll wake Mum!"

"Ethan–"His voice breaks with emotion. "Matt told us about Rochelle. You've got to stop hurting yourself; she's not much more than one of your illusions."

"No she's not! She's real dad, why can't anyone understand that! Rochelle…" I argue, incredulous and angry. "What's the problem with it? That she didn't die, that the girl I love disobeyed the prophecy and came back to me!" My head aches so much. Why can't they accept it?

"Ethan! Ethan!"

A cold slap to the face wakes me up. Hang on…I'm… lying on the floor…my head hurts…

"Ethan! What's wrong?"

"I'm fine dad!"

"You don't seem fine to me. You fainted! You were out cold for fifteen minutes!" Dad's voice is croaky, like he's been shouting at me for a long time.

"What?" I answer. I barely noticed. Did I really faint?

"Ethan!"

"Yes dad, that _is _my name, well done for the great observation," I retort rudely.

"Ethan," dad starts firmly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing! Leave me alone!"

"No. Don't get all defensive. What's happening to you?" he says, angry now, but I'm angrier.

"Leave me alone!"

I use my wings and dematerialise. Except… I don't. I try again. It doesn't work. Panicking slightly, I run away instead; but dad anticipated this and caught me before I even left the small kitchen.

"Oh no you don't Ethan," I struggle but he holds me fast with very little effort. "We're going to see Arkarian. Now."

"Dad–"

"No buts. We're going. You can barely stand up!"

"I'm tired, dad."

"No, you're not. You're not tired. This is something else. Come on."

Matt 

It's four in the morning, but Arkarian has just come into my bedroom and said that I have to wake up. I react by swatting him feebly and rolling over. Then an interesting thought makes me open my eyes and face him.

"Why are you here?" I ask and then another thought occurs to me. "Where are you staying now?"

Arkarian turns slightly red – something I don't think I've ever seen him do before. He seems a little lost for words.

"You're staying in the room next door to me, aren't you?" I continue.

"Yes," he admits. He turns redder. "Only on the floor, mind!" he adds as an afterthought.

"I'll let you off for not informing me of that, Arkarian, only because you have nowhere else to go," I say lightly. "Now, what do I need to wake up for?"

He relaxes a little. "It's Shaun. Ethan came home, and Shaun's brought him here to get our advice."

"Is Isabel up?"

"Just about," he replies.

"Good. Now what's happening with Shaun and Ethan?"

He starts telling me about Ethan's strange behaviour. I put a dressing gown on and a fetching pair of furry slippers, and follow him into Isabel's room, and then downstairs to meet Ethan and Shaun.

_A/N Hmm, I'm not very sure about this chapter. Feedback would be appreciated; I'm really not convinced that it doesn't need a really good rewrite._


	5. Chapter 5

A/N I am so, so, so sorry for the delay. I lost the plot, literally. But I feel I have to finish it, so here goes.

* * *

Matt

My heart breaks as soon as I see Ethan's face. Not even during the hardest battle we have ever faced did he look this disturbed. I can see why his dad has come looking for help.

Ethan is lying on the floor: he is drawn and white, beads of sweat lie on his forehead and he is shaking.

"What happened, Shaun? Did you convince him of the truth about Rochelle?" I whisper.

"No. He came home, then he just collapsed. I can barely get sense out of him, all he does is resist my efforts to help him," Shaun's voice breaks.

"Isabel, have a look at him," I ask, and she kneels down by Ethan, blinking sleep from her eyes.

Arkarian opens his thoughts to me, to tell me what he thinks. _Matt, this looks like overexertion to me. It reminds me of the time when Ethan was nearly killed by that dynamite: Isabel had to perform a massive healing, and afterwards she looked similar to this. But what has he been doing?_

"Ethan. Focus on me." He's sitting up Isabel can't even get much of a response out of him. She looks up at me with tears in her eyes.

"Matt, he's dying, and of something alien, so strange. I…I can't help him at all. Whatever it is, it's draining him, his energy, his life-force, and I can't heal that."

Ethan collapses from his upright position, falling to the floor with a sickening thud.

All four of us cry out at once, fearing the worst. Arkarian moves forwards. Shaun turns away. Isabel checks Ethan's pulse.

"He's still there," she whispers, then repeats it louder for everyone to hear.

"Arkarian–" I seek his gaze desperately, hoping that in all his years on the Earth he'll have come across something like this before, hoping that he can offer a cure or solution.

"I don't know, Matt," he answers with much effort. "But I think we need to find Rochelle. Whatever she is, she could offer help.

In the heat of the moment I had forgotten about her coming back to life.

"Definitely. I'll go." I dematerialise from my house, and reappear in Rochelle's road, one that I used to know so well when we were going out.

I steel myself, then use my wings again to enter her bedroom directly. She's sleeping peacefully.

I'm confused. Just looking at her raises conflict in my mind. I know she shouldn't be here, but while my mind knows that, my heart has forgotten and accepts her back without a problem, as if she had never left – no, as if she had never _died_. She _died_. I saw her with that arrow sticking out of her heart, and you can't come back from the dead.

"You're coming with me," I hiss at her, and pick her up unceremoniously to take her to my house, a five-minute-walk. Curiously, she doesn't protest at this treatment. Just smiles as if this is all a bit of a dream.

When we get there I plonk her down next to the still-motionless Ethan. He wakes up, knows she's there. Her skin glows like never before, and I can hardly bare to see it – not because of the brightness, but because I know that this life force isn't hers, it's Ethan's.

"Ethan. Stay with me." Isabel whispers, though his eyes roll back in his head sickeningly.

"How could you leave me?" Ethan creaks, his voice barely even there.

"Why?"

"Let her go!" I shout, trying to stop him letting her live in his place. "She can't live, Ethan! You have to be strong, live on, don't give in!"

"She's killing you Ethan!" Isabel joins.

"Let her go, son."


	6. Chapter 6

_PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! It would make this all worthwhile if just one person reviewed this and told me how the whole thing was. Please. I know it took me about 4 months to update it and I'm sorry. Please! Jess x_

* * *

_A week later_

Isabel

So many flowers. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful flowers. On the other hand, so many ugly tears rolling down cheeks, and so many whispers of "too young, too young to die".

A graveyard is never a nice place for a story to end, but for Ethan and Rochelle, this is where their tale finishes. Among the gravestones and the flowers, and with the fast-flowing oceans of tears.

We're all here to mourn. Nearly the whole town, turned out to grieve the passing of a teenager. The passing that they believe was the result of a "heart attack", but the local coroner will say anything if the right money floats his way. Things are still a mess, but it's all on hold for the funeral's duration.

Life goes on, though it'll never be the same as it was. It's really made me notice how lucky I am. I have Arkarian, and we have the rest of our long lives to be together, supporting each other. But the young warrior has lost his heart to death, and the tears flow fastest down the face of the one young man, until he has no more left to cry.


End file.
